Shrapnel shell manufacture

"Shrapnel shell manufacture" by Douglas T. Hamilton is a technical treatise written in the early 20th century. It presents a comprehensive, practice-focused guide to forging, machining, heat-treatment, tooling, and inspection for producing shrapnel shells, cartridge cases, and fuses, supplemented by government specifications from several nations. Aimed at manufacturers, engineers, and toolmakers responding to wartime demand, it covers everything from shop setups and machine methods to materials, propellants, and quality control. The opening of this treatise sets the urgent wartime context and explains that the work expands earlier Machinery magazine articles with added data and official specifications. It first surveys shell types and shrapnel’s evolution (from spherical forms to modern forged bodies), outlines present-day construction (shell, rifling band, fuse, brass case), distinguishes common and high‑explosive variants, and compares propellants and primers used by different armies. It then explains the design and operation of combination time-and-percussion fuses—American, Russian, and French patterns—how timing rings are set, and how trajectory and burn trains coordinate to burst in air. Next, it classifies explosives (low, high, and fulminates) and concisely describes how black powder, smokeless nitrocellulose/cordite, and high explosives (notably picric‑acid derivatives, TNT, and ammonal) are made and applied.

Shrapnel shell manufacture, by Douglas T. Hamilton. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #78213.